UNDERSTANDING SPEED IN TERMS OF 3D PRINTING FOR JEWELRY
Introduction:
While considering buying a 3D Printer for Either printing Rapid prototypes for Direct Casting or for Vulcanized Rubber Molds. One always wonders about the printing speed of the 3D Printer considering how much production one can create within the constraints of the platform size and in what time.
Millimetres per hour, or mm/h, is a typical unit of measurement for 3D printer speed. Nevertheless, brochures and technical specs usually leave out the speed expressed in microns but to understand the speed we have to understand slicing.
What is Slicing and how does it affect the Printing Speed?
Slicing:
Slicing is the process of dividing a 3D model into a series of 2D layers because this is analogous to cutting a loaf of bread into slices. After that, each 2D layer is projected onto a 3D printer's build plate and allowed to solidify from liquid to solid. Microns, or micrometers, are units of measurement used to describe the size of these layers.
A resin 3D printer exposes the image to the build plate dependent on the technology it uses (e.g., DLP, LCD) until each layer is cured. The UV light of a DLP printer is powerful than the UV light of an LCD printer, so it takes less time to cure each layer. This is one factor that affects printing speed.
Relation of Slicing and Speed
To explain speed in terms of slicing, let's consider a jewelry piece that is 5mm in height. Slicing it at a 100-micron thickness will result in 50 layers. Slicing the same model at 50 microns, there will be 100 layers. On the other hand, there will be 166 layers in the model if it is sliced at a 30-micron thickness.
The more layers there are, the longer it will take to print. Therefore, the printing speed will be different for each layer size. Only two layer thicknesses—50 and 30 microns—are regarded as standard in the jewelry industry. Therefore, the speed specified for a layer thickness of 100 microns is meaningless for printing jewelry.
It is important to remember that layer thickness and pixel size together determine the quality and surface finish of the printed jewelry pieces because printing a piece of jewelry in 100 microns will result in more layer marks. It can lead to more polishing and finishing work.
How Fast Protospeed DLP 3D Printers Can Print?
Depending upon the material and profiles Protospeed 3D Printers can print as fast as 65mm/Hour @ 50 Microns. To Explore how fast they print different pieces of jewelry at different heights browse through their YouTube channel.
In Conclusion:
The accurate measure of speed you would need to know is mm/Hour at 50 or 30 Microns for jewelry. Because the printer would print faster at 100 microns, slower at 50um, and vice versa. Not to mention that Z layer thickness is always modifiable. So one can go below 30 Microns as well.